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"I hope I'll be home by the 4th, but it's hard to tell when we will be released," the Shelter Now International relief worker wrote to her father, Tilden Curry, in a message he received October 26. "The lawyer meets with the Supreme Court tomorrow to see what their decision is. There is also a rumor that we are hostages now, but it would be so great to be home by the 4th."

Atif Ali Khan, the Pakistani lawyer for Curry and seven other aid workers, returned to Pakistan the week Curry wrote the letter. He was unable to meet with justices, and the trial came to a halt.

Curry said she and five other female prisoners are healthy again after suffering various illnesses since their arrest on August 3.

"We have been treated well, but it has been heartbreaking to see and hear others being severely beaten around us," she wrote. "The female guards that come each day to look after us have not been paid in two months—they are hungry—we give them any food we have extra or leftover to take to their families."

Curry asked for prayer for continued good health for herself and the five women, including 24-year-old American Heather Mercer.

"We meet in the mornings and evenings every day for one or two hours," she wrote. "We sing a lot! Heather and I even wrote a song. Some of the others have written songs too. … Pray that we can grow in our love for one another. Six ladies in a small place 24/7 can be a challenge—so we are learning to be patient and kind to one another. Most of the time things are fine, but when one is down it affects all of us."

When she wrote, Curry was certain enough of her release that her biggest prayer request was for safe exit from the country.

"If we drive out, we could run into people that may be very angry at Western people right now," she wrote. "We have no idea how He is going to get us out of here, but we trust He has a good plan. But mostly tell them [her 14-year-old half-brother Daniel and his 8th-grade classmates] to pray for the Afghan people—that they will have food and be able to stay warm—and that no bombs would hit people's homes. Sometimes we get scared during the loud bombing, but thankfully none have hit too close to us—no windows have broken. They can keep praying too that none come close to us."

She added, "Tell them we can feel their prayers. We feel his peace in our hearts."

Psalms 27 and 91 have encouraged them, she wrote, as well as 2 Cor. 1:8-11. In a previous letter, Curry said the detainees also have taken consolation in Psalm 56, Psalm 118:17, and Psalm 55:18.

The prisoners have enough winter clothing, blankets, and an electric heater to keep warm during cold nights, Curry wrote. They are also adequately fed.

Dayna's father told CT that the Shelter Now workers occasionally heard artillery even before the bombing began. "But she's a person of great maturity and deep faith, and I gather she's been a pillar of strength and is helping others to deal with the strain," Tilden Curry said.

Heather Mercer's mother, Deborah L. Oddy, told CT from Islamabad that the bombing is not necessarily the reason the trial halted.

"My personal feeling is that the court will not proceed with the case because they do not want it to end," she wrote in an e-mail message. "Why give up eight very valuable hostages?"

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October (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45